Andy Roddick claims current tennis schedule is ‘ridiculous’

Andy Roddick has called on the game’s authorities to review the schedule for
men’s tennis that leaves virtually no off-season and has contributed to
fatigue or injury this year for Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Britain’s Andy
Murray.

All played out: Andy Roddick leaves the court after losing to Lukasz Kubot of Poland in BeijingPhoto: AP

“It’s ridiculous to think that you have a professional sport that doesn’t have a legitimate off-season to rest, get healthy and then train,” Roddick said. “We finish around 30 November and have to be pretty much Grand Slam-ready by 4 January, year after year after year.”

This week’s Shanghai Masters will not feature Federer, who claims he is exhausted from a gruelling year, or Murray, who aggravated a wrist injury playing David Cup tennis four days after the US Open while Nadal has seen injuries blight his season and has not made a final in five months.

Juan Martin del Potro, who beat Federer to claim the US Open title, also blamed exhaustion for defeat last week to the world No 189. The same day Roddick fell to a player outside the top 140.

“We’ve been saying for a long time that it’s tough to compete 11 months a year, yet we actually end up finishing the season a little bit later now,” Roddick told the Independent newspaper.

“I don’t think it’s coincidental that you see Murray and Roger a little bit hurt now, or Rafa missing four months in the middle of the year, or maybe some odd results from Del Potro and myself last week.

“I just hope that the short-sightedness doesn’t affect the length of players’ careers. In tennis you definitely want your stars around as long as possible.”

This season got under way on Jan 05 and will run through till Nov 29 with the ATP World Tour Finals in London, although Czech and Spanish players, including Nadal, could feature in the Davis Cup final in the first week of December.

Players are required to feature in eight of the nine Masters events as well as the four Grand Slams, injury permitting, though the general tally is close to 18 tournaments when ranking points need to be protected.

Add in Davis Cup and sponsors commitments and the best players are on a relentless treadmill across 11 months of the year.

“No sport can do that and it means that your career is shorter,” said Roddick, who has a decade on the tour to his name.

“It’s impossible to be here playing as I have for the last five years, playing a lot of matches and being 100 per cent all the time. For the last five years I have been No 1 or No 2 in terms of matches played and I was OK, with only a few problems, but sooner or later it becomes impossible.

“I think everybody is working hard to try to change that, but it’s difficult because there are a lot of interests involved, a lot of important tournaments, and it’s difficult to say when you stop or start.

“I don’t know the solution, but my opinion is that it must be changed and soon.”